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WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice and FBI are investigating TikTok, including over previously disclosed allegations that company employees spied on journalists, a law enforcement official with knowledge of the matter said Friday.
The investigation is being conducted by Justice Department prosecutors in Washington and in the Eastern District of Virginia, along with the FBI, the officials said.
The DOJ and FBI declined to comment.
In response, a ByteDance spokesperson told NBC, “We have strongly condemned the actions of the individuals found to have been involved, and they are no longer employed at ByteDance. Our internal investigation is still ongoing, and we will cooperate with any official investigations when brought to us.”
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News about the probe was first reported on Thursday by Forbes, which reported that the employees implicated in the surveillance were fired after it was confirmed they were trying to find the sources of leaks to journalists from inside the company. A ByteDance investigation found that the employees gained access to the IP addresses and other data of the reporters and some of their contacts connected to them through their TikTok accounts.
The federal investigation into ByteDance comes as concern over the security threats to Americans related to TikTok has intensified this week. The Biden administration has threatened a potential ban on the popular social media app in the U.S. if its Chinese owners refuse to sell their stakes in it, a source close to the company told NBC News on Thursday. That came after U.S. intelligence officials expressed concerns that China can use TikTok to spy on Americans or influence U.S. public opinion.
Asked what message the White House sends to TikTok users in the U.S., press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Thursday, “We’ve expressed concerns over China’s potential use of software platforms that could endanger or threaten America’s safety and their national security. So that is the president’s concern. That is why we have called on Congress to take action.”
Jean-Pierre reiterated that a group of federal agencies are currently conducting a review of TikTok’s software.
